Fire Destroys Church In Brussels

United States?(Illinois) - St. Mary's Church in Brussels is completely gutted after an electrical fire that started during Saturday night's Christmas Eve Mass. No one was injured in the fire. At about 6:30 p.m. the Brussels Fire Department responded to a call from parishioners who said they smelled smoke late in the service. The initial fire, which was sparked by a blown light bulb in the attic of the building, later rekindled itself.

"The main fire (that destroyed the building) didn't start until 9 p.m.," Bob Snyder, a trustee at St. Mary's, said.

Brussels Fire Department responded for the second time about 9:45 p.m. Six or seven other local departments, including Fieldon and Rosedale, were called to assist at around 10:30 p.m. Firefighters worked all night to save the building but because of the height of the church and a shortage of water, the fire could not be completely doused. As of 10 a.m. Sunday, the building was still smoldering.

Charles Burch, the Calhoun County state's attorney, said that the loss has deeply affected Brussels and the surrounding towns.

"It's a tremendous loss," he said. "The church was built in 1883 and it was the center of the community (and) an integral part of life in Brussels. Everyone was buried there and married there."

Parishioners of St. Mary's are hoping to rebuild using as much of the original structure as possible.

"We're wanting to save the exterior walls and rebuild from there," Burch said. "We'll try to salvage what we can salvage."

While the building itself is a total loss, many of the things inside were saved.

"We got most everything out," Burch said. "We got all of the priests' vestments out and most of the statues, and we were able to save almost everything that wasn't bolted down."

The stained glass windows, which were a part of the original construction of the church, were lost in the blaze. Another part of the original construction was the church's steeple. About 2:30 a.m. Sunday, the steeple fell into the building after the roof collapsed.

While the loss of the building is devastating, Burch is thankful that no one was killed or injured.

"It could have been ten times worse. We're resilient," Burch said.

"We will move on, we will prevail and the people will get (the church) put back together. We're accepting donations from anyone who wants to help St. Mary's."

Written by Jacksonville Journal-Courier

Courtesy of YellowBrix
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Source: http://www.firefightingnews.com/article.cfm?articleID=103395

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